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District Judge Anthony Browne told him: 'The image of you urinating over the poppy wreaths on the war memorial in this city will make most turn away in disgust, shock and sadness. The war memorial is a sacred and special place.

'You need to understand all options, including prison, are being held open by the court.'

University of Brighton students dressed in skimpy outfits and scrawled words on each other with marker pen on a recent Carnage UK pub crawl

The judge also hit out at Carnage UK, which ran the drinking event.

He said: 'Carnage is the name of the organisation I believe promotes this type of activity and some might say somebody should be standing alongside you this morning.'

Laing, dressed in a suit and wearing a poppy, sat in silence as prosecutor Ian Conway outlined the events of Sunday October 11 to Sheffield Magistrates' Court.

The theme was doctors and nurses at a recent Carnage event in Exeter

He said the sports technology student at Sheffield Hallam University had decided to attend with his friends a nationally organised drinking event that was 'aptly entitled Carnage'.

The bar crawl began at 7pm but Laing was delayed by rugby practice and arrived late. He shared a bottle of whisky with his friends before heading to the city centre.

Laing was 'drinking pints and taking part in drinking games' and, in his own words, became 'the drunkest I have ever been at uni'.

Mr Conway said Laing, of Macclesfield, was photographed lying on the ground outside a supermarket and shortly after midnight was seen urinating over wreaths of poppies on the war memorial.

He said: 'This disgusting and reprehensible act was in no way premeditated, targeted or politically motivated.

'Rather his actions were sadly as a result of having consumed a large quantity of alcohol.'

Tim Hughes, defending, said Laing had 'suffered far greater personal anguish than an awful lot of people charged with more serious offences'.

'If there is ever a case where a young man has learnt an extremely hard lesson, this is it.'

Mr Hughes said Laing's grandparents had been involved in the war and he had done work experience with the Army.

The student was one of 2,000 who paid £10 to take part in the seven-hour drinking event.

Varsity Leisure Group Ltd, owner of the Carnage UK brand, holds similar events in university towns and cities across the country.

A spokesman said: 'The company does not promote the commission of criminal offences. It is highly defamatory to suggest that it does.'

VLG is owned by Paul Bahia, 29, a languages graduate who runs social events across the country attended by 350,000 students a year. He insists his company does not promote binge drinking.

Laing could be thrown out of the university following the prosecution and the court heard he may have to do his course elsewhere.

The case was adjourned for reports until November 26 when Laing will be sentenced.